Fort Weyr - Candidate Barracks
Carved from a natural bubble in the volcanic stone, this cavern has room enough to hold around two dozen occupants in comfort. Set into one of the long walls is a natural hearth area, not as large as some but more then enough to warm the cavern. Before it lays an old, well-worn rug that's colors have faded over turns of being un cared for. Mismatched chairs, an old couch, and a few randomly placed floor pillows finish up the sitting type area where candidates can relax after a long day of chores.
Along the walls are stationed sets of cots and clothes presses with curtains dividing them for privacy, each made up to the standards of the Weyrwoman. The left hand row of cots is made up with coverlets of brown and trimmed in black for male candidates, while the right hand row is made up with a lighter brown coverlet that's trimmed in white for the female candidates.
Above, the soft white light from electric lamps cast down during waking hours, while basket of emergency glows are stored in corners around the cavern for use during power outages.
A'tien is just finishing setting up in the barracks, he's got a couple of pictures laying against the wall and a rather sizable folder held under his arm. He quietly grabs up a chair and plops into it, waiting for the candidates.
Karona is at the moment straightening up her cot, and gently scolding a brown firelizard for being in her way, before plucking him from the cot and relocating him. She finishes making the cot just as A'tien plops into the chair, and she moves over to the weyrlingmaster, with a polite, "Sir."
A'tien eyes wander over the candidates and sighs, a hand idly lifting up to rub at his temple. He takes in a deep breath before settling into a chair at the front of the candidates, his arms idly wrapping over his lap. "I'll first be talking about the hatching. Many of you, I'm sure, are weyrbred and have seen a hatching before. A picture is grabbed from the easle and is shown to the candidates, it's of a hatching cavern with candidates standing before eggs. "As you are aware, when hatching starts dragons break from eggs and look for their lifemates. They're hungry, they're confused, they don't know how their limbs work and the only thing they do know is they have to seek our their bondeds out of all of you." A finger flicks around the candidates. "THe most important thing you have to remember is to stay on your toes, never take your attention away from the hatchlings, that's how accidents happen. Many accidents can be prevented by just keeping a wary eye on the hatchlings. Never touch a egg that is having problems hatching, and never approach a dragon unless you are absolutely sure that the hatchling is your lifemate."
Karona listens attentively, pulling up a chair of her own. "I.. I've seen hatchings." she murmurs, more to herself than to A'tien. She simply nods along, and then frowns a little. "I, sir, not /ever/ touch an egg? What if… what if it's /mostly/ hatched?" she asks, mind drifting to the eggs she had touched and liked. But she does nod at the last. Hatchling dragons are all awkward and don't know how their limbs work? Sounds dangerous. "I don't think approaching someone else's dragon is going to be a problem." She may even be a touch wary about even approaching her own, should she be so lucky as to impress.
A'tien shakes his head, "It's dangerous, you should never do it." A'tien says softly, "You'd end up scaring the hatching and it might hurt you. It's better that the dragon breaks free and is able to come out under its own will."
Karona winces, and nods quickly. "Understood, sir. Dangerous." she murmurs, looking a little sheepish. Of course it would be dangerous. They wouldn't tell them not to do it if it wasn't. "I… never would." she promises.
"And as you are all aware, if you impress you come under me as my charges. And I will tell you straight up, I will not make it easy on any of you if you impress. I expect all of you to maintain a clean appearance, I expect all of you to salute and address anyone of a higher rank than you by their title, I expect you to represent your weyr with pride. I will not tolerate anyone dying their hair, if anyone has dyed hair of a unnatural color, I will make sure you wash it out." A'tien's eyes flicker over the candidates, "I will not tolerate any weyrlings disrespecting this weyr."
Karona runs her hand through her very naturally coloured hair, and nods slightly. "Be respectful… Don't dye hair… Er, sir, weyrlingmaster, is the /exact/ title required, or, is 'sir' enough?" Well, someone certainly seems to be full of questions today.
A'tien offers a faint smile to Karona, "If you're not sure 'sir' or 'ma'am' is respectful enough, but looking at their knots should tell you what they are. A simple 'dragonrider' or 'wingsecond' or 'weyrleader', that's all I'm looking for. He pauses in thought, " "Which leads me to my next topic." he grabs at the folder and starts to hand out papers to the candidates, "You have to understand that impressing a dragon is not a game, and I expect every one of you to understand that before this lessson is over. You're not only caring for yourself, but you're also caring for another life. THey depend on you as much as you depend on them. THey need you to survive. THe paper and picture you're looking at right now is a weyrling and his dragon just graduated out of weyrlinghood. THe two died between because the rider did not look after his lifemate's hide, it was cracked and the two were never heard of again." Another paper and picture, "This rider did not pay attention to how much food his dragon was consuming and the dragon became obese, this is not a very fun condition as it is felt over the bond. It took a long time just for the dragon to fly again." Another picture and paper, "This pair was lost between for a silly reason, he failed to take care of his riding straps and after betweening, never came out again." His eyes flicker over the crowd, "All mistakes that could be fixed easily." His eyes close for a moment, summoning his firelizard, "Many people think that a dragon is like a firelizard. They are severely mistaken. While firelizards and dragons are similar in some aspects, a firelizard is a pet. A dragon is as intelligent, if not moreso, as a human being. They are not pets."
Karona shuffles through the papers as A'tien mentions each pair, looking progressively more pale. She had no idea quite how dangerous riding could be, clearly. "I, er." Nope, she's speechless now. Miracle of miracles. But you can bet by the shocked and slightly disgusted look on her face that /she/ won't be making those mistakes. "Understood, sir." she murmurs, quietly.
A'tien grabs a picture off to the side, it's a picture of a cliff face. "I want you all to look at this, very carefully." He pauses to turn his body slowly to let the candidates soak in the picture. "It's just a normal cliff face, right?" A finger taps at the picture. He pauses, slowly turning it so that every candidate can have a look at the picture.
Karona frowns a little, and leans forward to peer at the picture of the cliff face. "Er. Right, sir?" she murmurs, looking a little confused. Why are they looking at a cliff face now? "Er. Isn't it?" she asks finally. There must be something else about it, surely?
And Karona would be right, once the class has stared at the picture long enough he puts it off to the side and grabs a final picture, "This is a closer picture of the cliff face." A finger slowly trails a part of the cliff, an outline of a rider and dragon slowly start to appear, "This happens too often. Weyrlings don't speak to their Weyrlingmasters, they let their pride get in the way, they're stubborn, they don't pay attention, they don't listen. And this is the end result. They mess up and between into cliffs, or millions of feet underground, or never appear out of between ever again. I am making it my personal goal to make sure that we don't lose any weyrlings between or this." He taps the finger against the picture of the rider and dragon in the stone. "It's a horrible fate, and I would not wish it on any of my students."
Karona peers at the second picture too, struggling to make out the outline until A'tien traces it with a finger, and then she rocks back in her chair. "That, that poor pair." she murmurs. But they didn't pay attention, they didn't listen… "I. that will never be /me/." she vows, sitting up a little straighter even now.
A'tien offers a faint smile to Karona, "It's alright, this is why I wanted to come to the candidates, to bring this to their attention so together, we can perhaps stop this." A finger taps at the picture before putting it off to the side, He leans forward, closing his eyes as he speaks softly, "The whole point of this lesson is to make sure that whomever comes under my charge will come and speak to me if there's any problems, or concerns, or questions. I'm approachable. Weyrlinghood will not be easy under me, you won't enjoy it. But as long as you listen and come to me, I'll try my hardest to make sure no one loses their life." He smiles, "just….seek help, that's what we're here for."
Karona nods slowly, and frowns at the cliff face image. "I, yes, sir. If I impress, I… I will. I won't let that happen." She likes her life, she's quite attached to her life, and, if she were to impress, she would have another life to think about as well. "If, if I need any help, you'll be the first to hear of it, sir." she promises.
A'tien smiles a little, "If you don't have any questions or concerns, you're free to go. And if you think of something later, please don't be afraid to approach me."
Karona continues to frown at the picture, and then finally forces herself to tear her eyes from it. "Er, no sir, thank you sir. If I think of something later, I'll let you know, sir." she says, with a brief nod. She stands then, and salutes A'tien, before turning and heading out of the barracks.
